USC: Washington loss leaves Sarkisian searching for answers

USC head coach Steve Sarkisian looks at the scoreboard following a touchdown by Washington during the second half of his team's 17-12 loss Thursday night at the Coliseum. A day later, Sarkisian is still searching for answers.

Throughout his relatively brief but highly scrutinized tenure as USC coach, Steve Sarkisian always has had answers the day after – potential solutions for the Trojans’ persistent problems.

Following his team’s baffling 17-12 loss to Washington, Sarkisian was still searching for a remedy.

“Everybody is trying to find the right formula for success. We obviously didn’t have the right formula last night,” Sarkisian said Friday. “My job is to try and figure that out. It’s easy to look at the film and say, we should have run it, we should have thrown it, we should have blitzed more, we should have played coverage. But the reality is, it was bigger than that.

“I hate to dodge the question, but I don’t know yet. I’m still working at it, I’m still looking at it, I’m still trying to figure all that out. Because it’s important. It’s a huge, huge question.”

Eighteen games into the Sarkisian era, USC remains inconsistent. Based on the star ratings of the school’s recruits, many also would describe the Trojans as underachievers. USC was a double-figure favorite in four of the six losses suffered since Sarkisian became coach.

USC (3-2, 1-2 Pac-12) did not appear to be as inspired and did not play as crisply as Washington on Thursday night. The Trojans committed eight penalties, the third game in a row in which they have had at least eight. They also had a season-high three turnovers.

Sarkisian said he isn’t worried about losing the locker room. He did not meet with the team Friday morning, instead sticking to the schedule that has them gathering Sunday morning before the resumption of practice that afternoon.

“It’s a team. It’s not just the coaches, it’s not just us,” sophomore guard Viane Talamaivao told reporters after the game. “It’s all of us. If we win, if our team wins, our coaches win and our players win. And if we lose, our coaches lost and we lost.

“It is unfair to put the blame on any particular person or particular group, or any coach or anything like that. We just didn’t execute as a coaching staff, a team and as individual players.”

Said Sarkisian: “This team is not … going astray or losing the messaging from us or anything else. This team wants to win. It’s not about want-to. I’m not as concerned about that as I am our performance. If I felt that way, I would have met with them at 7a.m.

“These guys are in a good place. They’re going to be OK, and we’re going to be OK.”

Sarkisian said he still believes the Trojans are “headed in the right direction.” The only certainty is that they’re headed to Notre Dame next week.

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